A Redlands Love Story

The University of Redlands has played cupid for several couples over the past century, including Heather Carter ’11 and Will Maynard ’10.

The pair met on Sept. 26, 2007, not long after Carter started her freshman year.

“We had both been invited by mutual friends to go out to dinner at Macaroni Grill,” she said. “We started dating a couple months later, and with us both majoring in computer science, we enjoyed sharing several classes together over the years.”

Following Maynard’s graduation, he moved back to northern California, and the couple continued their relationship long distance. During the May Term of her senior year, Carter traveled to Salzburg to participate in Rick and Trish Cornez’s “German Expressionist Films” course.

“We had the weekends free to travel, so I went with a group of friends to Rome during the second weekend of the class,” Carter said. “We arrived in Rome on Friday, May 13, and spent our day exploring the city. At around 6 p.m., we made it to the Trevi Fountain. After admiring the fountain, I turned around and saw Will walking towards me in a suit and tie.”

Carter had no idea that Maynard had traveled halfway around the world to surprise her.

“I was in disbelief; I thought he was still in northern California,” she said. “Little did I know, he had been planning this surprise for the past year-and-a-half. He took me down to the edge of the fountain, got on one knee, and asked me to marry him in a poem he had written. It was the most romantic moment of my life.”

After Carter graduated, she moved in with Maynard, and the two will marry on Sept. 26, 2014, exactly seven years from the day they met.